SEO Glossary
Master search success in 2025 with our definitive SEO glossary. Get concise definitions for AEO, GEO, SXO, Social SEO, AI Overviews, topical authority and more.
A
- AI Overview — Google-generated summary box powered by Gemini showing direct answers above organic results.
- A/B Testing — Comparing two versions of a page to see which performs better for search or conversions.
- Above‑The‑Fold Content — Portion visible without scrolling; weighted for user experience.
- Accelerated Mobile Pages — Lightweight HTML framework for fast mobile load, deprecated 2023.
- Alt Text — Descriptive text in img tags helping accessibility and image SEO.
- Anchor Text — Clickable text of a hyperlink that signals topical relevance.
- Answer Box — Featured snippet answering query directly atop SERP.
- Authority Score — Metric estimating domain or page trustworthiness.
- Auto‑Suggest — Real‑time query suggestions shown in search box.
- Algorithm Update — Change to search ranking systems such as HCU.
- App Indexing — Linking Android/iOS app screens to SERP results.
- Affiliate Link — Trackable link earning commission, may use rel=sponsored.
- Audience Segmentation — Dividing users into cohorts for personalized SERP experiences.
B
- Backlink — Incoming hyperlink from another site; primary authority signal.
- BERT — Google NLP model improving understanding of queries.
- Bounce Rate — Percentage of single‑page sessions; indirect quality indicator.
- Broken Link — Hyperlink leading to 4xx/5xx; hurts crawl and UX.
- Branded Search — Queries containing your brand name.
- Breadcrumb — Hierarchical navigation links aiding crawl and users.
- Broad Match — Google Ads match type matching synonyms.
- Bot — Automated agent that crawls or interacts with pages.
- Black Hat SEO — Aggressive tactics violating guidelines.
- Bing Webmaster Tools — Microsoft console for site diagnostics.
- Business Profile — Google listing formerly GMB, helps local SEO.
- Bing Chat Answers — AI summaries within Bing SERP.
- Blogroll — List of recommended blogs linking out; trust signal.
C
- Canonical Tag — HTML link rel=canonical preventing duplicate content.
- Click‑Through Rate — Ratio of clicks to impressions; important performance metric.
- Core Web Vitals — Google metrics for loading, interactivity, visual stability.
- Crawler — Software like Googlebot retrieving pages for indexing.
- Crawl Budget — Number of URLs Googlebot can and wants to crawl.
- Content Decay — Over time traffic decline of dated content.
- Content Pruning — Removing or consolidating low‑value pages.
- Citation Flow — Majestic metric forecasting link influence.
- Cluster Content — Group of related pages supporting a pillar topic.
- Conversion Rate — Percentage of users completing desired action.
- Customer Journey — Stages users pass from awareness to loyalty.
- ChatGPT Plugin Indexing — Process ensuring plugin manifests are crawlable.
- Content Authenticity Signal — Metadata watermark proving originality.
D
- Data Highlighter — Google tool to tag structured data without code.
- Disavow File — List of backlinks ignored by Google.
- Domain Authority — Moz metric predicting ranking strength.
- Duplicate Content — Substantially similar content across URLs; can dilute ranking.
- Dynamic Rendering — Serving pre-rendered HTML to crawlers.
- Deep Link — Hyperlink pointing to specific app screen or page.
- Dwell Time — Time user spends on a page before returning to SERP.
- Data Layer — JavaScript object passing structured info to analytics.
- Direct Answer — Instant result answering factual query.
- Domain Rating — Ahrefs metric for backlink popularity.
- Diffused Authority — Link equity diluted across many internal links.
- Data‑Driven Attribution — Multi‑touch model assigning value based on data.
- Discover Feed — Google content recommendation feature in mobile app.
E
- E‑E‑A‑T — Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness quality paradigm.
- Edge SEO — Deploying SEO changes at CDN/network edge.
- Entity Home — Central authoritative resource for entity; helps Knowledge Graph.
- Exact Match Domain — URL containing target keyword exactly.
- Exit Rate — Percentage of exits from a specific page.
- Engagement Rate — Composite metric evaluating user interactions.
- Error 404 — Client error when resource not found.
- Evergreen Content — Timeless material staying relevant long‑term.
- External Link — Outbound hyperlink to another domain.
- Excerpt Snippet — Meta description text shown in SERP.
- Exact Match Anchor — Hyperlink text identical to keyword.
- Elastic SERP — Search results that adjust layout to user intent.
- Expertise Score — Proprietary metric gauging author credentials.
F
- Featured Snippet — SERP result pulling excerpt to answer query.
- Fetch & Render — Tool showing how page appears to crawler.
- Field Data — Real‑world user performance metrics.
- First Contentful Paint — Time until first content element visible.
- Faceted Navigation — Filtering UI that can cause duplicate URLs.
- Favicon — Small icon representing site in browser and SERP.
- Fog Index — Readability score measuring complexity.
- Freshness Signal — Recency factor impacting query deserving freshness.
- First Input Delay — Time until user can interact.
- First Click Free — Old Google policy allowing free content preview; retired 2017.
- Full Coverage — Google News tab aggregating sources.
- FAQ Schema — Structured data generating expandable answers.
- Field‑Level Encryption — Protecting PII in analytics logs.
G
- Googlebot — Google’s web crawling robot.
- GEO — Practice of optimizing for generative engines.
- Google Analytics 4 — Event‑based analytics platform replacing UA.
- Google Discover — Personalized feed of content recommendations.
- Google Tag Manager — Tag deployment interface.
- Google Trends — Tool showing relative search interest.
- Google Business Profile — Local listing management panel.
- Generative Summaries — Machine‑written overviews in SERP.
- Gated Content — Materials requiring email sign‑up; can block crawl.
- Gray Hat SEO — Midpoint tactics with some risk.
- Google Search Console — Performance monitoring tool.
- Geo‑Targeting — Serving content based on location data.
- Generative AI Content Watermark — SynthID embedded signature for authenticity.
H
- Hreflang — HTML attribute indicating language/region alternates.
- Heading Tags — HTML h1‑h6 structuring page hierarchy.
- Helpful Content System — Google ranking system rewarding people‑first content.
- Hashmeta Rank — Proprietary topical authority metric.
- HTML Sitemap — Human‑readable page index.
- Hub Page — Central pillar linking to cluster articles.
- Headless CMS — API‑driven content management system.
- Hidden Text — Concealed copy meant to manipulate rankings.
- Hybrid Rendering — Combining server‑side and client‑side rendering.
- HTML Robots Tag — Meta tag instructing crawlers whether to index/follow.
- Heuristic Evaluation — Expert review of UX issues impacting SXO.
- Hierarchical URL Structure — Logical folder organization aiding crawl.
- Hotjar Heatmap — Visualization of clicks aiding UX improvement.
I
- Index Coverage Report — Search Console dashboard of crawl status.
- Internal Link — Link between pages of the same site distributing equity.
- Intent Clustering — Grouping keywords by searcher intent.
- Inlinks — Another term for internal or inbound links.
- Image SEO — Optimizing imagery with alt text, compression, schema.
- Impression — Count of SERP appearances.
- Indexed Page — URL stored in search index.
- Infinite Scroll — Loading content dynamically as user scrolls; needs pagination signals.
- Information Gain — Novel insight Google uses to rerank similar pages.
- Intersection Keyword — Term shared across topics bridging clusters.
- Inline Schema — JSON‑LD structured data embedded in HTML.
- IndexNow — Protocol letting sites push new URLs to engines.
- Impression Share — Percent of possible impressions captured.
J
- JavaScript SEO — Optimizing sites heavily built with JS frameworks.
- JSON‑LD — Lightweight linked‑data format for schema markup.
- Jank — Visual instability causing CLS issues.
- Journey Map — Diagram of user research insights for SXO.
- JobPosting Schema — Structured data for job listings in SERP.
- Jump Links — Anchor links letting users skip to sections.
- JavaScript Rendering Budget — CPU time budget for Googlebot.
- Just‑In‑Time Indexing — Near‑real‑time inclusion of content via APIs.
- Journal Link — Citation from academic journal; high authority.
- JavaScript Sitemap — Sitemap listing dynamic routes.
- Joint Embedding — Representation technique for multimodal search.
- JSON Error — Malformed schema preventing parsing.
- Jump Indicator — UI cue telling users to jump to subsections in AI Overviews.
K
- Keyword Difficulty — Metric estimating ranking challenge.
- Knowledge Graph — Google database of entities and relationships.
- Key Moments — Video markup exposing timestamps in SERP.
- Keyword Cannibalization — Multiple pages competing on same keyword.
- KPI — Key performance indicator measuring success.
- Knowledge Panel — SERP box summarizing entity info.
- Keyword Gap — Difference between your and competitor keyword sets.
- Keyword Stuffing — Overuse of keywords violating guidelines.
- Knowledge Vault — Probabilistic knowledge base feeding search.
- Keyword Golden Ratio — Formula for finding underserved long‑tails.
- K‑Means Clustering — ML algorithm grouping semantically similar terms.
- Keyword Proximity — Distance between terms in content.
- Knowledge API — Interface permitting programmatic entity lookup.
L
- Lighthouse — Automated audit tool for performance and SEO.
- LCP — Largest Contentful Paint metric measuring load speed.
- Link Equity — Value passed through hyperlinks.
- Latent Semantic Indexing — Old method of correlating words.
- Local Pack — Map‑based SERP unit listing businesses.
- Log File Analysis — Reviewing server logs for crawler behavior.
- Link Spam Update — Google system neutralizing unnatural links.
- Lazy Loading — Deferring off‑screen images until needed.
- Link Velocity — Rate at which backlinks are acquired.
- Long‑Tail Keyword — Low‑volume, specific search query.
- LK99 Update — Hypothetical Google update focused on link quality.
- Landing Page Experience — Google Ads indicator also affecting SEO UX.
- Link Reclamation — Fixing broken backlinks to your site.
M
- Meta Description — HTML summary influencing click‑through.
- Mobile‑First Indexing — Google indexing mobile content by default.
- Multimodal Search — Queries combining text, image, voice.
- Manual Action — Penalty applied by reviewers for guideline violations.
- Meta Robots Tag — Directive controlling indexing, following.
- Modular Content — Reusable content blocks assembled programmatically.
- Mixed Content — HTTP and HTTPS assets causing insecurity.
- Mentions — Brand references without link that build authority.
- Merchant Center — Google platform for product feeds.
- Metric Threshold — Benchmarks used in Core Web Vitals.
- Multisite Architecture — Network of sub‑sites under single control.
- Meta Keywords Tag — Deprecated keyword meta field.
- Model‑Based Indexing — LLM-driven indexing of embeddings rather than HTML.
N
- NAP — Name, Address, Phone consistency for local SEO.
- Nofollow — Link attribute instructing engines not to pass equity.
- Noindex — Meta tag preventing indexing.
- Normalized Data — Cleaned analytics data enabling comparisons.
- Natural Language Processing — ML technique for understanding text.
- Navigation Depth — Click distance from homepage.
- Neural Matching — Google AI for query understanding.
- Negative SEO — Malicious tactics to harm competitor rankings.
- New Quoted Results — Exact match snippet for quotes in SERP.
- News Sitemap — Specialized sitemap for news articles.
- Non‑commercial Intent — Informational searches with no purchase goal.
- NLP SEO — Leveraging language models to optimize content.
- Node Authority — Trust score for graph-based ranking.
O
- On‑Page SEO — Optimization of elements within webpage.
- Off‑Page SEO — External factors like backlinks influence rankings.
- Outreach — Process of contacting webmasters for links.
- Orphan Page — Page with no internal links.
- Organic Search — Unpaid listings in SERP.
- Open Graph Tags — Metadata controlling social snippet appearance.
- O‑Embed — Protocol for embedding content like tweets.
- Over‑Optimization — Excessively optimized causing penalties.
- Omnichannel SEO — Unified optimization across search, social, apps.
- Outlink Ratio — Percentage of outbound links on page.
- Object Storage — Cloud file storage for edge SEO pipelines.
- OpenAI Link Attribution — Proper citation for AI-generated answers.
- Outline Schema — Proposed markup summarizing article outline.
P
- PageRank — Link analysis algorithm assigning importance score.
- Page Experience Signals — Set of UX metrics influencing ranking.
- Pagination Markup — rel=”next”/”prev” indicators to show sequence.
- Parallax Scrolling — Design effect; can impact performance.
- People Also Ask — Expanded question module in SERP.
- PAA Extraction — Process of mining PAA questions for content ideas.
- Persona — Fictional archetype representing target audience.
- Programmatic SEO — Mass‑publishing templated pages at scale.
- Passage Ranking — Google ranking of individual passages within pages.
- PBN — Private blog network used for link building.
- Prompt Injection — Malicious manipulation of LLM instructions within pages.
- Perspective Filter — Google Search toggle surfacing diverse viewpoints.
- Product Schema — Structured data enhancing product cards.
Q
- Query Deserves Freshness — Algorithm boosting recent content.
- Query Expansion — Adding related terms to broaden search.
- Quality Rater Guidelines — Handbook instructing evaluators.
- Qualified Lead Magnet — Download triggering email capture.
- Q‑Factor — Internal metric for site quality.
- Query Reformulation — Engine rewrites to improve match.
- Query Context — Signals like location and device.
- Q‑A Pair — Structured format of question and answer content.
- Quarantine URL — Temporarily blocked due to malware.
- Qualified Snippet — Featured snippet meeting thresholds for accuracy.
- Query Classification — Determining informational vs transactional.
- Query Logs — Anonymized dataset of past searches.
- Quick Answer — Instant result prior to Answer Box era.
R
- Robots.txt — File guiding crawler access.
- Rich Result — Enhanced SERP listing using structured data.
- RankBrain — Google machine‑learning ranking signal.
- Redirect 301 — Permanent URL redirection passing equity.
- RAG SEO — Optimizing retrieval‑augmented generation output visibility.
- RSS Feed — XML format for content syndication.
- Realtime Indexing — Push content via Indexing API for news/live.
- Relevance Score — Algorithmic matching factor between query and page.
- Referring Domain — Unique site linking to yours.
- Rank Tracking — Monitoring SERP positions over time.
- Rel‑prev/next — Pagination markup declared obsolete 2019.
- Responsive Design — Layout adapting to device size.
- Reciprocal Link — Two sites linking to each other.
S
- Schema.org — Vocabulary enabling structured data markup.
- Search Generative Experience — Google search integrating generative AI.
- SERP — Search engine results page.
- Site Speed — Time for page resources to load.
- Sitemap.xml — Machine‑readable file listing URLs.
- Social Proof — Trust signals such as reviews.
- Subdomain — Separate section of domain that can rank independently.
- Search Screen Optimization — Optimizing content for AI answer screens.
- Search Intent — Purpose behind query.
- Sitelinks — Additional links under main result.
- SpamBrain — Google AI system detecting spam.
- Structured Data Testing Tool — Utility validating schema.
- Search Visibility — Aggregate metric of ranking share.
T
- Title Tag — HTML element indicating page title.
- Topical Authority — Depth of coverage on a subject impacting rank.
- TF‑IDF — Term frequency‑inverse document frequency scoring.
- Thin Content — Pages with little value.
- Transactional Intent — Searcher looking to buy.
- Tag Manager — Platform for managing tags (see GTM).
- Tilt Social Video — Vertical videos optimized for mobile SERPs.
- Token Limit — Max token count in LLM prompting.
- Taxonomy — Hierarchical classification of topics.
- Transition Page — Interstitial that can be penalized if intrusive.
- TikTok SEO — Optimization for TikTok search algorithm.
- Trust Flow — Majestic metric measuring link quality.
- Time To First Byte — Server response metric impacting LCP.
U
- URL Slug — Human readable path portion after domain.
- User‑Generated Content — Community content such as reviews.
- UX Signals — Behavioural metrics like CTR, dwell time.
- Universal Search — Blend of news, images, videos in SERP.
- Unlinked Brand Mention — Reference without hyperlink that still boosts authority.
- UTM Parameters — Tracking tags appended to URLs for analytics.
- Update Rollout — Deployment period of algorithm update.
- User‑centric Signals — Indicators tied to satisfaction per SXO.
- User Intent Switch — When query intent changes mid‑search session.
- URL Inspection Tool — Search Console diagnostic tool.
- Uncrawlable Resource — Asset blocked by robots.txt or authentication.
- Unified Data Layer — Standardized analytics variable set.
- User‑Agent — Identifier string for software accessing website.
V
- Vector Database — Data store for embeddings enabling semantic search.
- Voice Search — Spoken queries processed by assistants.
- Video Schema — Markup enhancing video rich results.
- Vertical Search — Specialized engines like images, news.
- Visual Search — Using images to search.
- Visibility Index — Metric tracking overall SERP presence.
- VPSO — Voice & Personal Search Optimization.
- Viewability — Whether element is in viewport.
- Video Impression — Count of video results shown in SERP.
- Vitals Threshold — Cutoff values for CWV metrics.
- VLOG SEO — Optimizing vlog posts for search visibility.
- Vary Header — HTTP header controlling cache for different devices.
- Vanity URL — Custom short link enhancing memorability.
W
- Web Vitals Report — Field data dashboard in Search Console.
- White Hat SEO — Ethical optimization aligned with guidelines.
- WebPage Experience API — JS API for lab vitals measurement.
- Word Count — Length of content; relevance vs thoroughness.
- Web Stories — Visual AMP format for immersive storytelling.
- WebP — Image format offering compression benefits.
- Wildcard Redirect — Pattern redirect rule using *.
- Wikipedia Citation — Reference to Wikipedia page to establish entities.
- Webspam — Search spam such as cloaking.
- Webhook — Server-to-server callback; used in SEO automation.
- Web 3 SEO — Optimization for decentralized sites and IPFS.
- Waterfall Chart — Visualizing network requests.
- Word Vector — Numerical representation of semantic meaning.
X
- XML Sitemap — Alternative term for sitemap.xml.
- X‑Robots‑Tag — HTTP header controlling indexing.
- X (Twitter) SEO — Optimizing profiles and tweets for search.
- XR Search — Cross‑reality search using AR/VR devices.
- XML Feed — Data feed for shopping engines.
- XSS Sanitization — Protecting against cross‑site scripting.
- X‑Frame‑Options — Header preventing clickjacking.
- X‑Powered‑By — Server header that can leak info; best removed.
- XCN SEO — Cross‑channel network optimization syncing SEO and social.
- XML‑RPC — Remote procedure protocol; can be disabled for security.
- XPath — Query language for XML used in scraping.
- X‑Default Hreflang — Value indicating default language version.
- X‑RateLimit‑Remaining — Header indicating API quota; affects SEO API calls.
Y
- Yandex Metrica — Analytics tool used in CIS countries.
- YAML Front Matter — Metadata block in markdown for static sites.
- Yelp SEO — Tactics to rank in Yelp local results.
- YouTube Chapters — Video timestamps improving discoverability.
- Yoast SEO — Popular WordPress plugin guiding on‑page SEO.
- Yahoo Slurp — Historical Yahoo crawler.
- YMYL — Your Money Your Life content with higher scrutiny.
- Year‑in‑Review Page — Evergreen asset summarizing annual trends.
- YAML Schema — Defining structured data in YAML for edge SEO.
- Yandex Rank Factors — Proprietary algorithm elements of Yandex.
- Yield Optimization — Maximizing ad revenue without hurting UX.
- YouTube Shorts — Vertical micro‑videos ranking in Google.
- Youth Query Filter — Safe search filter for minor users.
Z
- Zero‑Click Search — Query answered directly on SERP without click.
- Zombie Page — Low traffic URL consuming crawl budget.
- Z‑Index — CSS stacking order; affects Largest Contentful Paint.
- z‑Pattern — Eye tracking pattern influencing design.
- Zip Compression — Gzip/Brotli reduce page weight.
- Zettelkasten — Note‑taking method for topical clustering.
- Zone File — DNS zone file affecting subdomain SEO.
- Zeroth-Party Data — Info proactively shared by users.
- Zigzag Pagination — Non‑linear pagination pattern causing crawl traps.
- Zoom Level SEO — Optimizing for SERP features at different zoom levels in Maps.
- Zero Input Query — Assistant suggestions without user typing.
- Zero Party Reviews — Reviews collected directly with permission.
- Zeitgeist Report — Google annual trending report used for content ideation.
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